Review // Just How ‘Family Friendly’ Was Dalriada Festival 2018?

The lure of seeing PJ Masks in the flesh proved too much for us to resist and so on Saturday, as the temperature reached 26 degrees, we headed up to Glenarm Castle to once again see what the Dalriada Festival had in store. A 35-minute trip for us that was easily filled with playing AC/DC’s ‘Thunderstruck’ on repeat at high volumes, else we incur the wrath of our 2-year-old who must have it playing at all times (because it’s a song used on the hit (hit?) film PLANES 2: FIRE & RESCUE). It had been 6 years since our last visit and I’m happy to say that we enjoyed it every bit as much this time as we did last.  This time we had 2 new visitors in tow – Max who is 3 years old and ‘Thunderstruck’ Alex who is 2 years old. With PJ Masks dolls in hands and dinosaur backpacks (with handy hand strap) on backs, we headed in. They don’t make the dinosaur backpack in adult sizes btw, but if they did I would most certainly have had one on. 

The festival really is perfectly suited to kids (and adults) of all ages and soon after we entered we were in Tractor Ted land, with Tractor Ted bouncy castle, Tractor Ted games, Tractor Ted’s home, Tractor Ted’s Barn, Tractor Ted’s shop (and so it goes on) and of course Ted himself toot tooting through.  We honestly had no idea who Tractor ted was before we arrived, but any vehicle with eyes is usually good with us, and he had 2 new fans by the time we left.  We toured the bouncy castles and funfair rides, ate Chipsticks (see pictures), watched some banjo at the outdoor stage, danced past the dance academy and basically took in all the Arena had to offer.  Of course, food is a big part of the festival, and after Mauds Ice Cream and watching the BBQ demonstration we opted for some BBQ’ed brisket on a beetroot bap that was out of this world.  The boys had to have chips of course, as they are dirty heathens that frown on anything that’s not potato or chicken based and deep fried. 

On the way to the main event, we caught some wrestling and I sneaked in a beer before finally approaching the PJ Masks! For those that don’t have children under 7 years old let me explain – to the kids PJ Masks are like The Beatles but bigger and with no Ringo (Sorry Ringo!).  We approached the revered PJ MASKS, Catboy and Owlette, with the boys and just like any good super fan Max cried his eyes out and refused to get any nearer than 10 feet to his idol, before finally conceding to a wave at Catboy from afar and holding his doll up at him and their sign. A sort of peaceful protest and sign of respect from afar. Alex did a bit of crying, mainly in solidarity with his brother, but then acquiesced and not only approached Owlette but gave her his doll to hug and even got a photo!

All in all it a big success for us, and also for the crowds that continuously streamed in, and with sweat dripping and the tiredness starting to show, mainly on us but also the boys :), we headed to the car with belly’s full and smiles on our faces.  Like an aging despot who’s memory is seriously failing him, Max waxed lyrical to his brother all the way home about his brilliant time meeting (he stood 10 feet away) the PJ masks and what fun he had. As we headed home we just had time to listen to ‘Thunderstruck’ another 11 times as we soaked in the beautiful drive along the coast road.